Study says methane a new climate threat (Permafrost Alert! The latest twist in Global Warming?)

AP on Yahoo ^ | 9/6/06 | Seth Borenstein - ap

[cogitator]

One thing this piece fails to mention is that not only does methane break down in 10 years but that time is decreasing.

A byproduct of methane oxidation is CO2.

[cogitator]

until the melting ice desalinates the North Atlantic shutting down heat-transport from the tropics (already starting), at which time the northern hemisphere cools, and the permafrost and glaciers return.

The process you describe is insufficient to induce a new continental glaciation epoch.

[cogitator]

Wasn't it methane that escaped from that lake and killed all those villagers in Asia or where ever?

Africa -- Lake Nyos and Lake Monoun -- and it was CO2.

[The_Reader_David]

So, I take it you disagree with the fair number of scientists who propose precisely a warming trend resulting in the shutdown of the thermohaline circulation in the North Atlantic (and secondarily Northern Pacific) as the trigger for an ice age.

Care to share your evidence against the hypothesis, rather than merely asserting it is wrong?

[cogitator]

So, I take it you disagree with the fair number of scientists who propose precisely a warming trend resulting in the shutdown of the thermohaline circulation in the North Atlantic (and secondarily Northern Pacific) as the trigger for an ice age.

No, I don't disagree with the process. A shutdown of the North Atlantic thermohaline circulation would very likely result in a significant cooling of the Northern Hemisphere, especially in Europe and eastern North America. But this temporary cooling, even though it could last centuries, is insuffient to trigger a new period of continental glaciation. If you research the discussions of this possibility (and that's all it is right now), you'll see that nobody in the scientific community is suggesting this would trigger continental glaciations.